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Category Archives: Walks around the hill

March 14, was a second sunny, frosty but distinctively colder morning with a very winterly wind. Last March I pondered over the possibility of Cornamount Hill being a location to stand at the equinox to see the sun rising from behind the Grianán. So I returned, making good progress on the farmer’s new road and …

September saw some striking sunsets with none more spectacular then on the 21. As last spring clouds hovering over Muckish cloaked the sight on September 5, by which time it was already too late by a few days to see the rolling sun on the northern slope as well as the setting right in the …

In my mind I could see the sun approaching Grianán in a high arch from above, as if someone fired a glowing canon ball towards it, only to gently settle right behind the monument, leaving its black silhouette burning for a few short moments on the disappearing disc. The radiant red smoulder of the aftermath …

Having been unable to work out any connection between Greenan and Holywell Hill in the comfort of my home, I went for a walk along Lough Swilly on a very agreeable afternoon, in the hope that motion and fresh air might proof beneficial to gain some progress on the matter. And on my way back …

As I got home there was very little information to be found. I reached first for Mabel Colhoun’s The Heritage of Inishowen, remembering a short entry at the end: (Unexamined) Holy Well (Early Christian) Cairn (Megalithic) 47/11 Townland Altaghaderry Situation: Alt. 859 ft. On Holywell Hill (859 ft.) on march between Counties Donegal and Londonderry. …

It has been a few years since I visited for the first and only time Holywell Hill, basically just to see, how the Grianán looks from this easterly direction and if anything could be found, perhaps even something which may shed some light on the function of Greenan Hill. So I returned, only to find …

After much stubborn frost the forecasted heat wave embraced a still sceptic Inishowen as if it would be the last and it was not wise to walk in a shade-less environment for a few hours before late afternoon. From the foot of Greenan Hill I crossed into the first field west of the road to …

Having finally realised that it will take forever to walk all of Inishowen, I concentrate now on the area around ‘Greenan’ Hill in the hope to understand at least the layout of the landscape if nothing else. The architecture of ‘Grianán Aileach’ seems to mirror its surroundings. Hillocks and hills circle ‘Greenan’ Hill nearly like …

I went to the end of Inishowen today. Beyond Grianan and Bogay Hill, where the southern slope of the latter dips into an ancient river valley and the little, that remains, of the lake at Port Lough. Older maps still have a castle located on what was once an island. More academic sources call it …